MAGISTRATE'S COURT

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21808, 13 June 1936, Page 22

MAGISTRATE'S COURT

FRIDAY (Before Mr E. C. Levvey, S.M.) ' FALSE PRETENCES ,f You will come up for sentence if called upon within 12 months, and you will pay for the clothes through the probation officer, but you had better be a little more careful in future,” said the magistrate to John McLean, a painter, aged 29, who pleaded guilty, through Mr P. P. J. Amodeo, to a charge that at Ashburton on March 11 he obtained a suit of clothes, valued at £4 Is 6d from John W. Strachan by falsely representing that a bicycle which he deposited as security was his own property. . McLean ordered the suit on February 7, and paid 10s deposit, said De-tective-Sergeant Holmes. On March 11 he called for the suit, but Strachan would not accept the security offered. He then left the bicycle as security, remarking that he had paid £8 for it. Two days later Strachan found that the bicycle had been loaned by a friend. For previous offences McLean had been sentenced at Timaru to 14 days’ imprisonment on two charges of theft, at Dunedin to two months’ imprisonment for false pretences, and at Dunedin to one month’s imprisonment for theft. He was a painter by occupation. The bicycle was owned by a workmate named Gallagher, said Mr Amodeo. McLean said he had authority to pledge it, but Gallagher denied this. At present he was without work, but he would be able to pay for the suit in two or three weeks if he were not sent to prison. “Where is the suit now?” asked the magistrate. “I have it on,” replied McLean. "Cheeky is the only expression you can use for that,” said the magistrate. “He gets the suit by fraud, he wears it, and then he wants to be treated leniently.” , , J “Your record is not good, but I will give you one chance,” he remarked. TRAFFIC OFFENCES For breaches of the traffic regulations the following were fined and ordered to pay costs: — Cutting a corner —Ronald William McCaflery (voluntary appearance), £2. Stationary car without lights—Arthur Henry Martin, 20s; William Reginald B. Martin, 10s. Overloading Bagot (voluntary appearance), 20s. Failure to sound horn—Alan Burke, 20s. Negligent driving—Alan Burke, £2. Failure to give way—Norman Arthur Coburn. £2. CHAUFFEUR CHARGED Ronald Joseph Noble, chauffeur to Dr. H. T. J. Thacker, pleaded not guilty to a charge of negligent driving. Mr W. J. Sim appeared for the defendant. Sub-Inspector D. A. Mac Lean said that on Mav 16, about 1.55 p.m., defendant was driving down Victoria street towards the city when he collided with a car travelling along Oxford terrace in a north-easterly direction, and driven by a man named Niall. Niall’s car had been well oyer the intersection when the collision took place. Noble, after the collision, had not stopped, but had turned up Oxford terrace, and had driven on towards town. Evidence was called to show that Noble was travelling fast when he reached the intersection. Mr W. J. Sim submitted that Noble had not been travelling at an excessive speed. He called two passengers in Noble’s car, Mr and Mrs C. H. Gilby, who said that although Niall was fairly well over the intersection he was on his wrong side of Oxford terrace. Gilby said that he had told Noble to drive on after the collision because he had important business to transact at the post office before 2 o’clock. “If it were not for the evidence of the last witness I would say that the defendant is a ‘hit-and-run’ motorist,” remarked the magistrate in convicting him. The defendant was fined £5 and ordered to pay costs.

CHARGES AGAINST MOTORCYCLIST Lewis Gorinski (Mr C. V. Lester) pleaded not guilty to charges of dangerous driving, and driving a motorcycle without lights. Sub-Inspector Mac Lean said that evidence showed that Gorinski had been driving a motor-cycle along Travis road between 5.30 and 6 p.m. He had run into a cow, and had on May 8 received serious injuries. The magistrate dismissed the charge of dangerous driving. On the charge of driving a motor-cycle without a light he was convicted and ordered to pay costs.